Improvement in zinc-white furnaces



UNITED STATES PATENT *OF IcE.

JAMES BENTON, or NEWARK, New JERSEY.

im'pu'ovemsur INZINQ-WHITEYFURNACES.

Specification forming part'of Letters Patent No. 10.574, dated-February 28, 185i.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES BENTON, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Manufaotur ing Metallic Zinc and the Oxide of'Zi'nc; and

I ,do hereby declare that the followingisa full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the center of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section in the line of Fig. 1. Fig; 3, is a'longitudinal ver tioal section in the line of Fig, 2. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section. v v

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in" each of the several figures.

The apparatus "which forms the subject of this invention is principally intended to carry out a new mode of manufacturing the oxide of zinc and metallic zinc; but it possesses another important feature in affording facilities for the treatment of the residuum of the ore, when that residuum is of value- The present mode of manufacturing the oxide of zinc,

which is attended with many difficulties and I much labor and expense, is to place the pulverized zinc ores in a horizontal furnace, protected from the gases of the fuel by fire-briclc' below and above. The ore in this furnace requires frequent stirring. The process is rendered very tedious and expensive by reason of the small charge of ore that each furnace can operate upon at once, and thegreat delay,

caused by the time required to cool the furnace sufficiently to discharge its contents and recharge it again. The production of metallic zinc requires another and separate'operation necessarily expensive. One object of my invention is to obviate these serious defects both in the manufacture of zincoxide and zinc metal by producing them both at one continuous operation, and much more rapidly and at a large saving in cost. Another object is to afford convenience for the treatment, when desirable, of the residuum of certain ores of zine-as, for instance, the ore found in the State of New Jersey, known as frankliuitc zinc ore, wlnch contains a portion of iron. My apparatus, when eomblned with a i paddling-furnace, will produceoxide of zinc,

or both oxide and metallic zinc, and at the same operation wrought-iron from the above ore. f I will now proceed to describe the construction and operation of my apparatus.

The accompanying drawings represent it as specially constructed for the manufacture of zinc from the franklinite ore, and intended to be combined with an iron=puddling furnace, to beheated by the waste heat therefrom; but this serves to illustrate the invention fully,

as when other, ores are employed the only essential difference will be in thearrangement of the furnace or fire and in the means of dischargingthe apparatus of the residuum af ter the zinc is extracted, which may be .such

as is most convenient. g

D is a chamber intended to be placed over the preparatory bottom B of the puddlingfurnace, and to be heated by the waste heat of the said furnace passing through it to the chimney. V

FF are two series of vertical tubes, which are placed or built in the middle of the chamber D at a short distance apart, and have the whole of their outer sides exposed to the heat,

but are sheltered on their inner sides. These tubes receive the ore on the inner side of each ore-tube, F, or that side sheltered from the heat. are known as lower openings, at short .dis' tanees apart in vertical rows, commencing some distance above the bottom, and terminating near the top of the tube, and the space between the tubes is divided by partitions g 9, extending from the bottom ,nearly to the top into a number of tubes, M Mi The lower part of the space between the ore-tubes F F is undivided, as the partitions g 9' do not extend to .the bottom, and it is furnished with a spout,

h, which is closed bya suitableshutter. Each row of ore-tubes F is furnished at the bottom with ore-spouts b b and slides a c, for controlling the discharge of the ore. The tubes F F and M M are all covered by a hood or trunk,

N, which has openings at the sides, which serve for the purpose of charging the tubes,

and also for the admission of air to the, trunk,

which is also provided with openings j and k, one at each end. 7 The tubes M M are furnished atthe top with a sliding shutter, 1, (shown only There are openings ff, similar to what' in Fig. 2,) which is for the purpose of closing them.

The ore previously to being submitted to thevoperation of the apparatus is pulverized and mixed with such a percentage of carbon as may be deemed advisable. The ore-tubes F F are filled, and the fuel in the'fire-cham'ber then ignited. The heat and gases from the fuel, after passing over the hearth of the pudpling-furnace; pass into the chamber D, giv-- ing to the tubes and the ore therein, which is protected from the gases, the proper degree of heat to set free from the ore all the volatile matter which escapes through the openings f f into the spaces M M When-the shutter l at the top of the said spaces M M is left'open, the volatile matter escapes into the trunk N, and carried off with cold drafts of air, which. are admitted to the trunk through its openings, to any suitable receptacle placed in 00111- munication with the trunk, and condensed into the oxide of zinc; but when it is desired to produce zinc in metallic form, the spaces M M are closed at the top by the slide 1 and the spout II. is opened. The volatile matter from the ore is then condensed in the center space in the form of metallic zinc, which will run out at the spout It into any suitable receptacle. Though the greater portion of .the vapor from the ore will escape through the openings-ff, still a certain portionwill always escape at the top of the tubes FF. This portion, whether the slide Z is closed or open, es-., capes into the trunk N, and is converted into oxide of zinc. Thus, when the S1 ide Zis closed, zinc metal and the oxide of zinc are at the same time formed.

I have now shown that the oxide of zinc alone, or oxide of zinc and zinc metal, can be at the same timeproduced; The proportionate quantities of oxide of zinc and metallic zinc which may be produced may, to a certain extent, be controlled by opening one, two, or more of the tubes F F at the top. \Vhen all the volatile matter is extracted from the ore, the residuiim, according to its nature, is discharged by opening the slides a 0 onto the puddling-hearth, to be there treated for the manufacture of wrought-iron, or into any receptacle suitable to receive it for future treatment, and a new charge is placed in the oretubes. \Vhile the new charge of ore is havthe residuum of the last charge may besubjected to the necessary treatment on the hearth or other receptacle below the chamber D. This apparatus may also be employed in the collection and'mannfacture of other volatile matters contained in ores.

The great advantage derived from my invention in the manufacture of oxide of zinc and zinc metal consists in allowing the oretubes to be made of any dimensions required for profitabie operation, either in height, length, or breadth, and in providing for the free escape of the vapor without the necessity of passing it through a large mass of ore, and for its subsequent collection in either of the forms desired.

The tubes F F and M M, when used in a puddling-furnace exposed to the full intensity of the heat therefrom without any intervening roof, will require to be of fire-brick; but in most other casesthey may be of metal, if for any reasons it may be desirable. n

I do not claim to have invented any mode of treating the oxides or other substances after they are evaporated; but

Vhat I do claim as my invention, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination 'of any number of oretnbes F F, and tubes or spaces M M, placed/ side by side and communicating with each' other through openings f f in their sides, the ore-tubes being exposed to a degree of heat sufficient to evaporate'the oxides or other substances contained therein and make them pass through the openings f f into the tubes or being protected from the heat by the ore-tubes, and serving either to "collect and condense the oxides or other vapors or to convey them to any other suitable receptacle, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The hoodor trunk N, furnished with suitable openings for the admission of air, and placed over the ore-tubes F F or spacesM M, substantially as described, for the purpose of receiving, leading off, and cooling the-oz'rides or other vapors escaping from the ores,substantially as described.

J AS. BENTON.

Witn csses EL. POLHAMUS,

ing the volatileportion set free and BXJJIaCt-Gd,

O. D. MUNN.

spaces M M, the said tubes or spaces M M 

